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A forklift moved a burned car near Montrose, Ga., where more than two dozen cars, trucks, and tractor-trailers collided.

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press
February 07, 2013

MONTROSE, Ga. — More than two dozen cars, pickup trucks, and tractor-trailers collided Wednesday morning in a fiery pileup on a foggy Georgia interstate, killing at least four people and sending nine others to a hospital, officials said.

Work crews on Interstate 16 were still clearing charred and twisted wreckage from the crash scene, which covered nearly a quarter-mile of the roadway, nearly six hours after the chain of crashes occurred at about 8:10 a.m. Crews initially reported three deaths before finding another person dead in the wreckage later Wednesday.

The Georgia State Patrol was still trying to piece together what started the series of wrecks involving 27 vehicles. Captain Kirk McGlamery said even drivers who dodged to the side of cars crashing in front of them weren’t safe from getting rear-ended off the highway’s shoulder.

Weather forecasts called for dense fog Wednesday morning, and McGlamery said motorists reported smoke across the highway. He said a controlled burn had been permitted nearby the day before, and troopers were trying to find out if burning continued into Wednesday.

McGlamery said seven tractor-trailers were involved in the pileup, including an empty fuel tanker. Fumes inside the tanker exploded and caught fire, though the driver of the rig survived.

Joseph White, a soldier in the Army National Guard, told the The Courier Herald of Dublin he was heading to work when he drove into heavy traffic clouded by black smoke. He was rear-ended before he saw a fuel tanker hit an 18-wheeler.

‘‘I’m looking back and the tanker exploded,’’ said White, who ran from the scene after his car came to a halt. ‘‘Pieces of the tanker flew toward me on the freeway, barely missing me. A piece of the tanker landed like 10 feet behind me as I was running.’’